The meaning of the actual passage itself.

The evidence that the A.V. gives the correct reading.

There are two passages in the R.V. in which the hand of the modernist

is evident.  They are 1 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Timothy 3:16.  In the first there

is an attack upon the Deity of Christ, and in the second there is an attack

upon the Scriptures of God.  We know not when the storm will break, but we

are persuaded that the Enemy of Truth has singled out these two truths for

special attack, and while time and opportunity remain, we desire, as unto the

Lord, to make it plain where we stand on the vital issues involved.  For the

moment we concentrate our attention upon 1 Timothy 3:16.

It is possible to give so much proof that the untrained mind may be

bewildered rather than convinced.  To avoid this, we first draw attention to

the essential feature of the structure of the Epistle.

A

1:17. The King of the Ages, Incorruptible,

Honour and glory, to the ages of the ages.

B

3:16. God was manifested in the Flesh

A

6:15,16. King of kings  Immortal,

Honour and might, age -lasting.

These are the great focal points around which the remainder of the

structure is grouped.  We will not set out the complete literary structure of

1 Timothy, but the interested reader will find it in full in Vol. 32 of

The Berean Expositor under the title The Mystery Manifested No. 11.  For the

moment we perceive that the Epistle opens and closes with a doxology that

ascribes, among other things, Invisibility to God, but contains in its centre

a revelation of the vital truth of the Saviour's Person and Office as the one

Mediator, where instead of invisibility and unapproachable light, we have God

Manifest and Seen.

We now pass from the testimony of the structure to

the text itself.  Chapter 3 is largely devoted to the qualifications of

bishops and deacons, and the apostle states that he has so written that

Timothy may know how to behave himself in the house of God, which is the

church of the living God.  A question now arises from the last clause of

verse 15.  Is the church 'the pillar and ground of the truth'?  If we use the

word 'church' in its most spiritual meaning, we shall find no basis in

Scripture for such an important doctrine.  The case before us, however, is

most certainly not 'the Church' but 'a church', a church wherein there are

bishops and deacons; a church in which Timothy could 'behave' himself; in

other words, a local assembly, and surely it is beyond all argument that the

truth does not rest upon any such church as its pillar and ground!  The

reader will observe that in the complete structure, 3:15 is divided between D

and E, and that the latter part of verse 15 belongs to verse 16.  There is no

definite article before the word 'pillar', and a consistent translation is as

follows.  Having finished what he had to say about the officers of the church

and Timothy's behaviour, he turns to the great subject of the Mystery of

godliness with the words: